Building relationships, investing in youth and a county DOGE…What’s in Greater Lincolnshire Mayor Andrea Jenkyns’ in-tray?

Reform UK’s Dame Andrea Jenkyns has been elected the Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, but what will be in her in-tray?

The former Conservative MP and ex-Lincolnshire County councillor swept the board across all but one of the nine council area counts in the county in a commanding win.

Reform UK also dominated Lincolnshire County Council elections. But attention will soon turn to the policy priorities of, and challenges ahead for, Dame Andrea as Mayor.

Below is a rundown of what we can expect to be in the mayoral in-tray over the coming months.

First CCA meeting and building a relationship with council leaders

The first meeting of the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) post-mayoral election is scheduled for May 19, the venue to be confirmed.

The way the county’s devolution deal is set up, the new Mayor will need to build bridges and have a working relationship with the nominated two members each from North East Lincolnshire Council, North Lincolnshire Council and Lincolnshire County Council.

These include the council leader of each.

Most of what the Mayor can do requires a majority of members of the GLCCA to be on board too, or support from members of the three lead councils.

Reform UK has no councillors in North Lincolnshire and only one currently in North East Lincolnshire, and these councils are led by the Conservatives.

Even though Reform took overall control of Lincolnshire County Council, Dame Andrea as Mayor will need to be skilled at collegiate working with Conservative counterparts in northern Lincolnshire.

Training and apprenticeships

Dame Andrea accompanied her party leader Nigel Farage on a visit to Ashby High Street, North Lincolnshire, two days before polling day.

When asked what impact a Reform UK mayoralty could have in Lincolnshire, Mr Farage singled out one particular area he hoped Dame Andrea would make particular progress in.

He said, referring to the £24m a year general budget the Mayor and GLCCA have: “I very much hope that what she will try to do with that money, in partnership I hope with the private sector, is to try and get some proper training and apprenticeships.

Mr Farage said he felt the adult education powers of the devolution deal were its crucial aspect and added: “I think young people need more hope than they’ve got at the moment.”

Dame Andrea promised a Skills for Lincolnshire Board in the first mayoral campaign debate in Cleethorpes, aiming to tackle the county’s brain drain.

This and Mr Farage’s recent comments mean there is expectation of real progress on skills training of young people.

Lincolnshire DOGE

Dame Andrea has repeatedly promised to create a Lincolnshire DOGE, in a clear nod to the US Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) department headed by Elon Musk.

This is a cornerstone of her pledge to root out wasteful spending.

Yet the Mayor has no power whatsoever to tell councils how to, and how not to, spend their cash.

Something Dame Andrea acknowledged when she spoke in Ashby High Street, though she did talk about seeking more powers for the mayoralty.

She said she would look at broadcasting the meetings of GLCCA and ‘use political pressure to get my manifesto through’, of looking to cut out what she viewed as wasteful council spending.

Dame Andrea also claimed Lincolnshire DOGE will ‘not cost the taxpayer’, with business chief executives volunteering to participate.

Having a cost-free Lincolnshire DOGE that is more than a talking shop and prompts council spending change will be a significant task Dame Andrea faces, to follow through on this part of her campaign platform.

Attracting business investment to the county

Attracting more business investment to Lincolnshire will also be a central part of the Mayor’s in-tray over the next four years.

Dame Andrea has herself pledged to create a Greater Lincolnshire business association.

In the campaign’s first debate, she also called for an annual Great Exhibition of 1851-style event ‘of all the great businesses of Greater Lincolnshire’.

Dame Andrea may also need to work on convincing the renewable energy cluster in northern Lincolnshire that she will be a champion for the sector.

The Reform UK Mayor repeatedly expressed criticism of UK net zero ambitions on the campaign trail.

Public transport and being a regional figurehead

The newly-elected Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire emphasised the creation of a Transport for Greater Lincolnshire body shortly after her victory as a policy priority.

This would include ‘stakeholders, even from charities, and decision-makers to finally get Lincolnshire moving’.

Connectivity was commonly raised on the campaign by different candidates as a major challenge for the county that needed addressing.

Dame Andrea will also face the task of becoming a figurehead for the region, to represent its interests to Government or elsewhere. So-called metro Mayors in other parts of England have taken on a larger role than their actual powers provide, as a one-person symbol of the voice of local government in an area.

It may be in that role that Dame Andrea follows through on her stated opposition to further solar farms in the county.

During her victory speech, she promised to ‘fight against the destruction of our countryside by Ed Miliband’, the Energy Security Secretary, who supports solar farms on lower-quality agricultural land.